SB 
•B65 




Class SB ^ 55. 

Book. T£('o5' 

CopigM}J?_JL3lZQ- 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



The Science of 
Fruit Growing 

Based on Nature's Laws 
VIRGIL BOGUE 

ALBION, NEW YORK 



Price, $2.00 



DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE PRINT 

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 

1917 



.^^ 
"^^^y 



Copyright 1917 

BY 

VIRGIL BOGUE 



JUL 3! I9r^ 



©Ci.A499961 



THE SCIENCE OF FRUIT GROWING 
BASED ON NATURE'S LAWS 

BY 

VIRGIL BOGUE, Albion, N. Y. 



LET US consider the great work that is 
being done to create and maintain the 
vegetable and animal kingdom in pro- 
ducing delicious fruits, attractive shape, 
fragrant and beautiful flowers of various 
shades and colors ; and wonder who the Archi- 
tect can be, how long he has been designing 
them, to what part are we assigned in their 
creation, and what shall our harvest be. 



The Science of Fruit Growing 



God's workshop — what is it for, where is 
it, what does He make, what is the material 
used, and what is His great motor power? 

The word God is used to designate the 
Greater and Controller of everything. His 
workshop is in the leaf of plants of all de- 
scription. It consists of a system of cells 
corresponding to the lungs of a person, and 
from them there is an opening through the 
under side of the leaf representing the mouth 
and throat of a person, and apparently as sen- 
sitive in taking in and letting out the air to 
the air chambers of the leaf. Joining these 
air cells and separated from them by a deli- 
cate system of sensitive organs, is a set of 
cells representing the stomach, which receives 
the sap from the roots through a system of 
veins. It is in these parts where the action 
of the great power of heat and light make 
chloroplast which is the real live molecule of 



Based on Nature's Laws. 



vegetable life, usually green in color as we see 
most leaves to be. It unites with the sap and 
circulates through the whole plant, aiding to 
reinvigorate any weak parts and to construct 
new parts. The making of chloroplast is the 
primary action for the construction of all 
vegetable growth on the earth's surface, and 
only for it, the earth would be bare of all 
vegetable growth and all animals that subsist 
on vegetable growth. 

The ordinary apple leaf has about one 
hundred thousand breathing cells opening 
from the under side of it, to spray the leaves 
in the early part of the growing season (which 
is the time it is doing its best work) with a 
thick spray, the nature of which would form 
a coating over the opening of the breathing 
cells, would reduce the efficiency of the leaf. 
To spray the tree in its dormant state with a 
solution that will kill fungii and the eggs of 



The Science of Fruit Growing 



insects, is very beneficial. If there are in- 
jurious insects in sufficient quantities to 
injure the fruit or tree in its growing season, 
it should be sprayed with a thin poison liquid 
that will interfere with the action of the leaf 
as little as possible. 

The necessity for the air cells of a leaf 
being furnished regularly with an abundance 
of pure air, corresponds with the needs of 
pure air for the lungs of an animal. All leaves 
are sensitive to heat and cold, wet and dry 
conditions. They flourish where the condi- 
tions seem best adapted to them. Some are 
more sensitive to the changes at different sea- 
sons of the year than others. While the 
grapevine flourishes over a large area of 
country, it fails to develop the sugar from the 
starch condition at such locations as have cool 
nights when it is ripening. The cool air stops 
the working of the leaf, and the fruit remains 



Based on Nature's Laws. 



in about the same condition of ripening. 
Though vines allowed to grow in the top of 
tall trees or trailed up under the eaves of a 
tall building above the strata of cold air, 
ripen their fruit to perfection, as does the 
vine growing in the favored location under 
the influence of a lake that keeps the air warm 
at that season of growth. 

Severe electric storms have a similar ef- 
fect on the leaves as a light frost. As elec- 
tric storms come at the season of the year 
when the trees are making the best 
growth, their bad effect is more often over- 
come by elimination. 

We find by observation and reasoning, 
that trees have life, and are constructed and 
maintained by the same natural laws that 
govern and maintain the animal kingdom. 
That is, they have the circulation of the sap, 



The Science of Fruit Growing 



which represents the blood of the animal. 
This circulation is continuous throughout the 
growing season. We notice by cutting off a 
part of the top or roots during the growing 
season, it immediately withers and dies and 
in many cases where the tree is all cut off 
near the ground in the growing season, the 
roots and top both die, and we therefore con- 
clude, naturally, that the one is dependent 
on the other. 

The life of the tree is in its molecules, with 
functions similar to those in the animal king- 
dom to a certain extent. Some of these are 
constructive and others digestive and dis- 
tributive. They do the work of reinvigorat- 
ing by cleansing the marred or unhealthy 
parts, as we can see by examining the inner 
part of the body of the tree or large limbs, 
that the annual courses of growth show nearly 
a perfect condition, when we know they had 



Based on Nature's Laws. 



been severely bruised, and many small limbs 
cut from them. Trees differ in their ability 
to cleanse and re-establish the tissues, as 
shown by the pine. Many of their knots are 
not wholly eliminated. This would tend to 
show that there were two circulations of the 
sap: one in the bark and outer courses of the 
wood and between them; the other from the 
bark to and from the heart or center of the 
tree. A cross section of a seasoned oak tree 
shows this distinctly. 

The sap is quite thin and watery in the 
forepart of the growing season, but grows 
thicker as the season advances, finally 
reaching a state of solidity located in the bark 
and outer edges of the wood, to remain 
through its dormant season, then to be en- 
livened and brought into action by the warm 
moist atmosphere of spring, thus to continue 
its previous season's growth. As a proof of 



10 The Science of Fruit Growing 

this, saw a limb of two inches in diameter 
from a bearing Apple tree in the spring, just 
as the sap is starting, and put the end in 
a dish of warm water, keeping it in a warm, 
moist atmosphere. The limb will leaf, blos- 
som, and continue its growth until its life 
substance is exhausted. 

As proof of the location of the life sub- 
stance through its dormant stage, bore a hole 
one-half inch deep into a sugar maple tree in 
the spring, and let the sap run till it is dry; 
then bore it in another inch,and it will run 
more sap, apparently nearly as well filled 
with sugar as the first. This will also illus- 
trate how the sap, in its thin liquid shape, 
takes up the sugar or real life substance of 
the tree and carries it to the leaves, to be 
digested or separated into its different parts, 
forming a new growth of wood, bark, leaves, 
roots, blossoms and fruit. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 11 

We find that a higher state of vitality is 
produced when the roots and tops are fur- 
nished regularly with the necessary condi- 
tions and material for its growth. We want 
not only vitality, but matured vitality, in the 
fruit tree, in order to have it stand the debili- 
tating effects of Winter, and hold and grow 
its fruit after it is set. Nature has furnished 
a sufficient amount of this in the tree to pro- 
duce occasional crops of fine fruit in those 
sections where fruit naturally grows. 

The fruit grower finds it necessary to do 
something more to aid the tree in securing its 
moisture more regularly and its feeding ma- 
terial more abundantly. The bacteria that is 
necessary to decompose vegetable matter in 
the soil, in order to make plant food available 
for the feeding of the roots, does not do its 
best work when the soil is crusted, hard, or 
covered with sod, but does it when the ground 



12 The Science of Fruit Growing 

is frequently cultivated and broken up into 
fine parts, so the air is readily admitted to 
the place where the decomposition is going 
on, and is facilitated by the abundance of 
fresh air that enters into the process of de- 
composition of vegetable matter, and the 
growth of plants. 

The tree can not live any great length of 
time with its roots in water. Neither can it 
produce a regular and sufficient circulation 
of its sap without moisture in sufficient quan- 
tities to supply its needs. The nearer we can 
furnish regularly the needed moisture, and 
in its proper season, the more matured vital- 
ity it will possess, and like the hill of corn, the 
size and maturity of the ear it produces de- 
pends on the amount of matured vitality in 
the stalk. For instance, a hill of corn planted 
early and which through neglect dries up, 
produces little, and one planted late produces 



Based on Nature's Laws. 13 

an immatured ear of but little value. The 
fruit-bearing tree is as sensitive to cultiva- 
tion as a hill of corn. They both use the same 
conditions for their growth. To obtain the 
best results, they both need to be planted 
far enough apart so that the sun can strike 
the land where their roots feed. A root 
grown in the sun is worth more for producing 
matured vitality than one grown in the shade. 
This is readily shown by trying to grow either 
in the shade of a building. 

Trees bear best when furnished appar- 
ently an excess amount of fertilizer, and the 
land well plowed, thoroughly and often cul- 
tivated, from early Spring to the first of Sep- 
tember, then seeded to chickweed or some 
Fall plant that grows mostly on moisture. 
One reason why orchards located near lakes 
bear more regularly than those inland, is that 
moist cloudy conditions that aid the trees in 



14 The Science of Fruit Growing 

growing at the season when the fruit bud is 
maturing its vitality for the following year's 
crop. Trees growing further away from the 
lakes are more often matured by the sun be- 
fore they are fully developed. They both ap- 
pear to blossom about the same, but while 
one holds and grows the fruit, the other more 
often drops it before maturity. This relates 
to trees growing under neglect and depending 
entirely on natural conditions. 

Where the trees grow under more sunny 
conditions, and are furnished the necessary 
moisture and food regularly by cultivation, 
they produce good crops of better colored 
fruit, which means better flavor. Fruits, like 
flowers, reach the highest state of perfection 
in proportion to the amount of sunlight they 
receive, other conditions being equal. 

The individuality of the fruit is a germ 



Based on Nature's Laws. 15 

much smaller than the head of a pin, located 
just under the base of the bud in a jet. If a 
jet of a Greening or any variety is transferred 
to another variety and grows, the fruit born 
from it would be of the variety from which it 
was taken. This is called budding, and by 
it one tree can be made to produce many dis- 
tinct varieties of apples. The budding should 
be done when the new growth is nearly ma- 
tured, and the sap in the tree to be budded 
is beginning to thicken. Under such condi- 
tions the bud and the tree unite readily. 

Trees do not produce fruit in the younger 
stages of their growth. Like the animal 
kingdom, they seem to require a matured 
state for reproduction. The growth of the 
fruit spurs represent the necessary matured 
condition for reproduction. The first blos- 
soms on a young tree seldom produce fruit, 
as the tree has to advance beyond that stage. 



16 The Science of Fruit Growing 

One leaf will not produce fruit. It requires 
a number, and the larger proportion of leaves 
to a fruit, the better and the nearer the leaves 
to the fruit, the better action they have in 
producing it. 

Each variety of fruit has its special sea- 
sons and necessary conditions to develop and 
mature its fruit germ which is done the year 
before it bears fruit. The productiveness of 
a tree depends in a large measure on the 
structure of the leaf and its adaptability to 
conditions. To illustrate, take the Greening, 
its terminal leaves are usually the largest it 
produces in the season, indicating that the 
maturing of the tree is continued till the last 
of the season, and is generally known to be a 
great and regular bearer of fruit. In contrast 
to this we will take the Esopus Spitzenberg, 
the leaves of which are the smallest at the 
last of the season's growth, and taper back in 



Based on Nature's Laws. 17 

size to those grown in mid-season. That does 
not represent the best conditions for produc- 
ing a developed and mature condition of the 
germ. Hence it is only under the most favor- 
able conditions that this variety bears. Other 
illustrations are numerous. 

When starting an orchard, it is best to 
secure nursery trees that have been budded 
or grafted from bearing trees, as in many 
cases they have been rebudded from nursery 
trees for a dozen or more generations, which 
eliminates in a large measure the nature of 
reproduction of fruit, and they do not bear 
as young as when budded from bearing trees. 
The tree should be cared for from the time 
it is dug from the nursery until it is planted, 
in the best way to keep it from deteriorating 
in vitality by drying up or the roots being 
frosted when out of the ground or exposed 
in a cold room or put in water, especially cold 



18 The Science of Fruit Growing 

water, as it requires laore attention to re- 
invigorate it after its vitality has been re- 
duced fifty per cent, or more by transplanting. 
The trees should be planted in a good pul- 
verized and moderately rich soil, and have the 
dirt packed well around the roots. The roots 
can be puddled in a thin mud before planting, 
but never wet down the dirt in the hole when 
planting, as it later produces a hard, dry- 
baked condition that may require a year or 
more to change to be like the surrounding 
ground, in the meantime the tree will do poor- 
ly. If a farmer was asked how he would treat 
a small piece of ground so that it Avould not 
grow weeds or anything else with natural 
thrift, he would reply: *^ Spade it in the 
Spring when wet, and stamp it down thor- 
oughly.'' This is the way many plant trees. 
The tree should be given such care as is neces- 
sary to furnish its requirements for a con- 



Based on Nature's Laws. 19 

tinuous growth, from the time it is set until 
it dies of old age. 

Trimming should be started from the be- 
ginning by cutting off all mutilated roots 
smoothly, when planting, so they will callous 
more readily and start fine roots. About one- 
third of the ends of the last yearns growth 
of the tops should be cut off, in order to 
start the new growth from well-matured 
wood. The centre of the tree should be al- 
lowed to grow and be maintained throughout 
its whole existence. After the first year the 
side branches should be cut off to within six 
inches of the tree, and allowed to produce all 
the side growth they can of any nature. The 
following year anything growing on the short 
growth over six inches, should be shortened 
to six inches, and also the side growth on the 
center, until the tree reaches a height at 
which you want the first permanent limb to 



20 The Science of Fruit Growing 

grow, and then leave a limb for permanent 
growth, and above that six inches to a foot 
on another side of the tree leave another limb, 
proceeding in this manner mitil five or six 
have been left for permanent growth. These 
should be cut back a little on the ends, and 
the limbs making too large a growth on its 
sides, in order to force a production of as 
many fruit spurs and short growths on the 
body and main limbs as possible. The leaves 
on these short twigs serve to make the main 
limbs stocky and are performing near it their 
office of developing the whole tree, root and 
branches. Where there are no short twigs 
and the sap has to traverse a long body, and 
then a long limb to reach the few leaves at 
the end of it, and return lightly reinvigorated 
with chlorophyll to construct and reinvigor- 
ate the roots, it can not be expected that such 
a condition would produce as favorable re- 



Based on Nature's Laws. 21 

suits as would follow where the body and 
large limbs are more covered with short twigs 
and fruit spurs. 

Under the latter condition you would 
seldom see any water sprouts that Nature is 
always producing on large bare limbs. Four 
or fiYQ feet above the first started permanent 
limbs, should be grown another lot and so on, 
as high as you wish to have the tree grow. 
Always aim to produce and preserve as many 
short twigs on the larger limbs as is possible. 
If the short limbs grow too strong and fill in 
the inside too much, cut them back, and so 
force out more fruit spurs on them. Remem- 
ber, that one leaf does not make an Apple and 
that the more fruit-spur leaves you can pro- 
duce on the body and main limbs, the better. 
A large percentage of the fruit will grow on 
these short twigs. There are many orchards 
in Western New York that are practically and 



22 The Science of Fruit Growing 

scientifically trimmed under the present sys- 
tem of culture, that are in such a weak state 
of vitality that many of their limbs are dying 
from exhaustion, the sap not being able to 
traverse the distance necessary to reach the 
leaves on the ends of the limbs, and then re- 
turn with the necessary nourishment to con- 
tinue life, and that too under good conditions 
and cultivation. For the most part these 
trees do not and cannot produce as many 
pounds of fruit as they did ten years ago, or 
what they could have produced if they had 
never been trimmed. Trees properly trimmed 
from the beginning under this plan, would 
eliminate the necessity of cutting out large 
limbs in later years, as is very often the case. 
Every time a limb or root of a tree is cut off, 
it injures the tree. There are some seasons of 
the year when to trim a tree injures it most. 

We are often told that the time to cut 



Based on Nature's Laws. 23 

bushes or trees to kill them is in August. The 
reason I assume for plants dying when cut 
at this time, is that the tree or bushes has 
reached its highest state of growth, and be- 
gins the maturing of the growth, which it is 
not able to do without the aid of the leaves, 
decomposition sets in, and it dies. To trim 
trees late in the Fall or Winter, exposes the 
tender inner part of the bark. The freezing 
and thawing makes a bad sore, which extends 
much farther under the bark than is apparent 
from the outside and has to be reinvigorated 
by the sap in summer, the same as the blood 
heals a sore. On nursery trees, where the re- 
sults are more readily observed, it has often 
affected the trees so badly, especially the 
Baldwins, that the heart would become black 
and punky, and in later years the tree would 
become worthless and die. 

A little statement in a book on tree culture 



24 The Science of Fruit Growing 

sent out many years ago from Rochester, 
N. Y., stated: ''Trim any time your knife 
was sharpr This was the cause of many 
thousand worthless trees. To preserve the 
greatest amount of vigor the tree should be 
trimmed just before the leaves start in the 
Spring. To trim just after the leaves start is 
very weakening. It grows less injurious as 
the season advances, up to about July 1st, 
after which it is more injurious on fruit- 
bearing trees until Winter. Where large 
limbs have to be cut off, it should be at the 
collar and not in the shoulder, as the shoulder 
possesses the healing nature of growth and 
the limb does not; the cut should be imme- 
diately painted with linseed oil and iron ore, 
to keep the fungii parasites out until it can 
grow over. Never use any animal oil on 
trees unless made into soap. 

The functions of the roots are to serve as 



Based on Nature's Laws. 25 

the stomach of the tree, to receive the moist- 
ure and food necessary for the maintainance 
of the tree. They work in conjunction with 
the leaves, which act as the lungs. The suc- 
cess of this depends on the amount of moist- 
ure and food available and the regularity 
with which it is obtained. Our ancestors 
found that by plowing and cultivating the 
soil, plants and trees produced a greater 
growth and yield than when planted in solid 
ground: in most cases the more the land is 
cultivated, the larger the growth. 

The roots of trees vary, according to the 
depth of the soil they flourish in, and also de- 
pend on the variety of the tree and the 
solidity of the soil. They require a certain 
amount of healthy air, light and sunshine, 
and they thrive best where they can best 
secure these. An excess amount of moisture 
in the ground at the growing season for an 



26 The Science of Fruit Growing 

extended period reduces the quality of the 
sap in an Apple tree until it weakens and dies. 
If it does not kill the tree it very often pre- 
vents it from producing enough matured 
vitality to hold its fruit after the blossoming 
season for that and the following year. When 
the ground becomes very dry from the Sum- 
mer drouth, the root will go deeper into the 
ground, seeking moisture. As the stronger 
of the roots will take the lead downward, 
many of the smaller roots become inactive 
and die. The root has the same nature as 
the top, in always sending out branches to 
gather its requirements. Often they get so 
deep that the Spring rains following, drown 
them out for the want of air, they die, and the 
tree starts out roots near the surface again. 

If we can reason that the tree requires 
matured roots, the same as the top requires 
matured fruit spurs in order to produce fruit, 



Based on Nature's Laws. 27 

then many of the trees' failure to produce, 
may be accounted for and very strong evi- 
dence of the value of cultivation, which keeps 
the roots near the surface of the ground. Also 
this demonstrates the value of deep under- 
drains. A root grown where the sunlight 
can strike the earth above it, is much more 
valuable than one grown in the shade. 

The place to put manure is outside the 
shade of the tree, to have it do the most 
good, for the more roots feeding in the sun- 
light, the better. Nearly all substances sub- 
ject to decomposition by the ground are good 
to produce growth. Vegetable and mineral 
substances are better than animal. Warm, 
moist ground is a great deodorizer and de- 
composer of manural substances. Dry ground 
is much less active or efficient. 

As trees and plants get their nourishment 



28 . The Science of Fruit Growing 

from the soil through the roots, it is well to 
keep the soil in as good condition as possible 
to feed the roots all the time the tree or plant 
is growing. The ends of these roots are 
porous, like a sponge, and absorb the moist- 
ure, which is in the form of a film surrounding 
each grain of soil, and is enriched by the ma- 
terial in the grain of earth and the gases and 
spirits formed by the decomposed manural 
substances in the soil, by action of heat and 
moisture, and then conveyed to the leaves by 
capillary attraction. The quality of the 
moisture called sap, so obtained, depends on 
the available proportions of potash, phos- 
phoric acid and nitrogen as necessaries, and 
lime, iron, magnesia and other chemicals as 
assistants. Nearly all vegetable substances, 
except a few heavily laden with acids, that 
are susceptible to decomposition when well 
assimilated in the soil under action of heat 



Based on Nature's Laws. 29 

and moisture, make good plant food. The 
fomenting condition of the soil is kept even 
and continuous in proportion as the soil is 
kept cultivated under favorable conditions. 

A barrel of fine refuse salt, sown evenly 
over an acre of finely pulverized dry land, 
will aid in promoting vegetable growth in 
a dry time. Care should be taken not to sow 
it in lumps or piles, as the impurities in salt 
draws moisture from the atmosphere. If the 
dense liquid or brine formed by it should 
come in contact with the roots of the trees in 
sufficient quantity, it would draw the less 
dense liquid or sap from the roots, and kill 
them the same way that it kills grass, viz., by 
drawing the moisture from its roots. 

Light acting on the leaves develops 
chlorophyll, which is the green color of vege- 
tation. It digests or elaborates the sap, which 



30 The Science of Fruit Growing 

fits it for the production of new cells that form 
the extensions of new growths of leaves, wood 
and fruit. The solidity of the vegetable or 
fruit depends on the amount of light the 
leaves receive. The leaves should be kept 
as free as possible from all fungii or 
foreign substances and in a grooving con- 
dition, that its cells may be open to receive 
the light, and not dry up from lack of sap. 
When in a healthy, growing condition the 
leaf absorbs oxygen and hydrogen from the 
air in the day, and casts off surplus oxygen 
and carbonic acid at night. The oxygen is 
necessary for its development, and the car- 
bonic acid becomes a foreign substance to be 
eliminated for the health of the plant. If the 
leaf is not able to receive oxygen freely, or 
if there is a lack of free elimination of the 
foreign substances, it would create a clogging 
of the growing system and produce bad re- 



Based on Nature's Laws. 31 

suits, tlie same as in the animal system. The 
plant, in trying to eliminate foreign substance 
in the growing season, caused by frozen cells, 
is often overtaxed, and dies, or continues its 
life in a weakened state, producing little 
results. 

If the frozen part of a tree or plant could 
be removed by cutting it off as soon as it is 
frozen, it would save the tree or plant from 
having to eliminate the foreign matter or 
dead molecules in the sap through its regular 
system of growth. The ability of a tree to 
recover from the effects of a late Spring 
freeze, and mature its fruit, depends on the 
amount of matured vitality it has to aid its 
growth, and the severity of the freeze. 

It is more exhausting to a tree to let it 
hold its fruit until it ripens and drop off itself, 
than it is to pick it off as soon as it is ready 



32 The Science of Fruit Grozving 

for the market. The difference in many in- 
stances means a failure in fruit production 
the following year. It is injurious to a tree 
to allow its fruit to decay on the ground under 
it. As far as possible it should be removed. 
The dead leaves seem to be good fertilizer, 
and they should be held on the ground as they 
fall by some late fall growing plant until 
plowed under. To plow the land in the late 
fall or early winter, kills many of the insects 
that winter in the ground. The leaves and 
plants plowed under are ready to decay in 
the Spring as soon as the warm weather de- 
velops the bacteria necessary for decomposi- 
tion, and so becomes available for plant food. 
The fungii that is on the leaves and rejected 
fruit, develops in the Spring, when the leaves 
and rejected fruit are allowed to remain on 
the ground, into millions of spores at a tem- 
perature of 45 degrees, which float in the air. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 33 

alighting on everything with which they come 
in contact, but only grow where they can get 
nourishment suitable for their needs. 

The most of fruits, like grasses, have a 
better flavor when harvested just before their 
seeds ripen, and allowed to cure or ripen 
slowly in a cool place. 

The highest state of perfection in the fruit 
is produced where it has been regularly fur- 
nished its necessities for growth while in its 
tannin, starch and sugar stages. An imper- 
fect tannin cannot produce a perfect starch, 
and an imperfect starch cannot produce a 
perfect sugar, which are the different stages 
of growth in the fruit. 

For want of application a very little bene- 
fit is being received from our knowledge of 
the beneficial animals, birds and insects. 
There are enough of them if they were prop- 



34 The Science of Fruit Growing 

erly fostered to destroy all the injurious in- 
sects that injure the trees and vegetable 
plants. 

There is the skunk or polecat, which is a 
busy worker at night — when it feels free to 
roam without being molested, it has an in- 
stinct to detect grubs, snails and other in- 
sects, when it is walking over the ground, 
located at a depth of two inches from the sur- 
face of the ground, and digs them out for 
its food. It is shy of people, and only uses its 
power of defense when in danger. It lives 
mostly in burrows in the ground in localities 
where it is not likely to be molested. 

The snake, of which there are many kinds 
that are harmless, lives mostly on mice, 
ground moles, insects, and berries. They live 
mostly in stone piles, a fence post set with 
stones around it makes a satisfactory place 



Based on Nature's Laws. 35 

for them to live. The toads live on insects 
gathered with their tongue, which is extreme- 
ly long and so constructed that it can catch 
and hold a very quick insect. It likes to live 
under a flat stone raised just far enough above 
the ground for it to enter. A few such homes 
located along the edge of the garden would 
soon be well occupied, and a great reduction 
of insects in the garden would follow. 

The wasp, hornet, sweat bees, and lady 
bugs, are great butchers of insects and eaters 
of insects' eggs. The wasp stings many in- 
sects — among them the green pear worm — 
until it dies. It then drags it to a place where 
it has a hole in the ground, where it puts it, 
then lays an egg in the worm and covers it 
up, apparently with a satisfaction that it has 
done something to perpetuate its kind, as the 
larvae formed from the egg feeds on the de- 
composing insect. They prefer to live in a 



36 The Science of Fruit Growing 

quiet place, often in the top of a building that 
is not much frequented by people. 

The hornet does the same killing of in- 
sects, but it prefers a hollow stalk of a 
plant in which to put the insect, and deposit 
its egg. There are different kinds of birds 
that are great devourers of insects and pos- 
sess a wonderful instinct for locating them. 
The woodpecker has the instinct to locate a 
grub feeding in and under the bark of a tree, 
and has strength in its bill to drill a hole and 
get it to eat. It is continually hunting on 
trees for insects. It likes its home in a dense 
wooded ravine, where it raises its young in a 
hole in a tree that it has made with its own 
bill. 

The Creator has provided all these and 
many other helpful animals, birds, and 
insects, with a nature of reproduction and to 



I Based on Nature's Laws. Z7 

seek seclusion for their homes. They would 
be of great benefit if they were protected, in- 
stead of often being foolishly killed. 

To understand these conditions and try to 
produce them will give more and regular 
compensation for the labor and expense be- 
stowed on the producing of fruits, vegetables, 
grains and flowers. 



Appl^ the principles herein advanced to the 
care of your orchard, and note results. 



THE SCIENCE OF FRUIT GROWING 
BASED ON NATURE'S LAWS 

Part II. 



The fruit growing season in the Western 
New York fruit belt is too short to develop 
and mature the commercial varieties of fruit 
now grown in that section. The Newtown 
Pippin, Peck's Pleasant, Wine Saps, Spitzen- 
bergs and other varieties are finding better 
climatic conditions in the Virginias, and when 
grown there they are supplying the markets 
at a higher price and in a much more satis- 
factory manner than when grown in their 
earlier home, Western New York, where the 



40 The Science of Fruit Growing 

climatic conditions in an earlier day made 
them famous. 

Everything that can possibly be done 
should be done to lengthen the growing sea- 
son, especially the fore part of it. 

By plowing the land in the late Fall or 
Winter and cultivating into the soil a coating 
of partly decayed stable manure, the bacteria 
would start in the soil much earlier in the 
Spring, and when once started it increases 
very rapidly and spreads throughout the 
adjoining soil. It starts very slowly in un- 
plowed land and where no stable manure is 
applied often makes a difference of several 
days in the condition of growth. 

To get the greatest benefit from stable 
manure, aside from what is necessary to start 
the bacteria on or near the surface of the 
ground, it is better to plow it under from five 



Based on Nature's Laws. 41 

to eight inches deep. The soil absorbs the 
different properties in the manure as it de- 
composes and holds it till the roots of the 
plants can absorb it. If allowed to decay on 
the surface many valuable manural prop- 
erties are carried away by the air, which is a 
great absorbant. 

Covering the land with a thin layer of 
manure or any vegetable substance is bene- 
ficial to growth. It prevents the air from 
taking the manural substances and moisture 
from the ground and maintains a more even 
temperature in the soil. Care should be taken 
not to apply too much stable manure late in 
the growing season, as a heavy rain would 
carry to the roots an over-supply of food at a 
time when they could not use it and make a 
matured growth. 

The bacteria plays a very essential part in 



42 The Science of Fruit Growing 

the growth of plants. There are many kinds 
of them, some beneficial and others injurious. 
Each kind exists under conditions adapted 
to their nature. The kind that works in wet 
muck or low lands, producing a coarse swamp 
grass of little value, is not the kind wanted to 
produce good apples. Apple trees would soon 
die if forced to grow under these conditions. 
The elastic nature of plants and animals is 
such that they can exist for a short time on 
unnatural food, which when extended too 
long will show detrimental results. 

Different kinds of bacteria, under the 
right kind of conditions, help to grow dif- 
ferent kinds of plants requiring the same con- 
ditions for growth, and if their seed is not 
there they seem to produce these plants 
spontaneously. 

The season of the year controls the great 



Based on Nature's Laws. 43 

power of heat and light in the production of 
new growth and the ripening of the condition 
that exists at the time, whether fully devel- 
oped or not, which accounts in part for small 
size fruit and grain. Every distinct variety 
of plants or fruit has its season for ripening 
its seed and stock, after which its growth, if 
any, is to store life substance for the main- 
tenance of the stock and the starting of an- 
other crop of seed. Much depends on the 
condition of growth when the ripening season 
strikes it. Judging from a financial stand- 
point, it determines whether the product will 
have a high or low value and whether the in- 
dividual specimens will be large and well 
matured or small, imperfect and of little 
value. All that can be done to help furnish 
Nature's requirements in the proper season 
for growth, will show results at harvest time. 



The Science of Fruit Growing 



The respiratory organs located on the 
body and larger limbs of old trees are 
not able to serve their purpose, owing to 
the dead bark covering the surface. This 
bark should be scraped off in the Spring 
before the tree starts its growth. Ex- 
treme care should be taken not to cut 
into the green bark under it. This gives 
the tree a chance for a free respiration 
throughout the bark, where the organs inhale 
and exhale air and moisture. The body and 
large limbs that have been scraped should 
not be covered with a thick whitewash in the 
growing season, any more than the leaves 
should be covered with it. When the body is 
covered with little twigs the pores are more 
numerous near the base of the twigs. The 
development of the respiratory organs is 
what makes the tree larger in their vicinity, 
or what is more commonly called *^ stocky," 



Based on Nature's Laws. 45 

and are more valuable to growth than long, 
slim limbs. It gives the tree a better circula- 
tion of its sap upwards as well as downwards 
through the body. A clearer conception of 
the extent and working of the respiratory 
organs can be obtained by taking a section of 
the bark, two feet wide by three feet long, 
from a basswood tree about the longest day of 
Summer, at which time it peels freely, from 
the tree, put it in a running brook for four 
weeks; weight it well, so it will not rise above 
the water. At the end of the four weeks, the 
life substance located between the layers of 
bark is well decayed and there will be eight 
or ten layers of thin bark that will readily 
separate from each other and from the outer 
layers of dead bark. These layers are very 
porous, the perforations ranging from the size 
of the point of a pin on the inner bark to 1/16 
of an inch in the outer layers. All tree barks 



46 The Science of Fruit Growing 

are similarly constructed, but not so easily 
examined as the basswood. These pores con- 
nect the life of the tree located between the 
layers of bark and the outside of the tree. 
There are many thousands to the square inch 
of bark surface in a young healthy tree. 

Many of the old bearing trees under the 
present system of trimming and culture are 
barkbound, which causes the elongated cells 
through which the sap flows to and from the 
roots, to be contracted or depressed, and this 
interferes with the free circulation of the sap. 
This condition can be 'relieved by cutting 
perpendicularly through the bark of the body 
from the roots, to and along large limbs on 
three or four sides of the tree in June, at 
which time new wood and bark are commenc- 
ing to form; the bark, being nearly loose on 
the tree at that time, can more readily adjust 



Based on Nature's Laws. 47 

itself to the expansion which in bad cases 
would be more than one-fourth of an inch at 
each cut. 

Nothing should be done to the tree or plant 
that would hinder a regular or progressive 
growth, or allow any condition to exist that 
would require a large per cent, of chlorophyll 
throughout its growing season to be used to 
eliminate foreign matter, or to reinvigorate 
the parts that are unfavorably affected from 
exterior causes. All the chlorophyll so used 
reduces the amount that would be available 
for the production of fruit or grain. The 
debilitating effects of Winter on bearing trees 
is great, especially if they were not well 
matured in the previous Fall. 

If the amount of needed trimming is so 
great that it cannot be done at the best season 
for the good of the tree, it can be done in 



48 The Science of Fruit Growing 

late Winter by leaving stubs on the tree from 
one to two feet long, and cut tbem off later at 
the proper time, which will be less injurious 
to the health of the tree. The frozen sore 
that is on the end of the stub is not in the 
main course of the sap's circulation from the 
roots to the leaves. The bad effects of the 
poison to be eliminated from it is not so great. 
It is better to remove the stumps before the 
circulation of the sap is commenced in the 
Spring. 

Judgment should be used in deciding the 
depth to plow the orchard. If the previous 
Summer and Fall were dry, then it will do to 
plow deep, as the active feeding roots are 
deep in the ground. If the previous Spring 
and Summer season was excessively wet, then 
the active feeding roots are mostly near the 
surface, and should not be cut off by plowing 



Based on Nature's Laws. 49 

too deep. The deeper the land can be plowed 
consistent with the position of the roots of the 
trees, the easier it will be to conserve the 
moisture by cultivation through the dryer 
part of the growing season. 

Spraying with poisons and fungicides are 
temporarily beneficial to keep fungii and in- 
sects off until the fruit can be used. They 
should not be depended on to take the neces- 
sary place of food and care to produce fully 
developed and mature vitality, any more than 
we should depend on spraying with insecti- 
cides to keep the cows of a good dairy free 
of insects, when we know by giving them 
plenty of feed that is adapted to their needs 
and good care, they are not infected with in- 
sects or fungii. No kind of Aphides or lice 
can live for any length of time by feeding on 
the leaves of strictly healthy trees or plants, 



50 The Science of Fruit Growing 

nor can they live on a well-fed and cared for 
animal. Fungii grows on a leaf, tree or fruit, 
only where there is an imperfect and imma- 
tured condition of growth. The imperfect con- 
dition of an apple that has fungii on it can be 
seen by placing it in the air till it shrivels, 
then put it in a vacuum where the air can be 
taken from it, and it will show that the cells 
covered by the fungii are brought out full 
again, indicating that that part of the apple 
which is usually near the blossom end 
was immatured and could not stand the air 
pressure when compared with the stem end 
where there is little or no fungii. 

The beautiful colored leaves that we see 
in the Autumn are the result of an imperfect 
maturing and deteriorating condition of 
growth. The most distinct scarlet coloring is 
produced by taking all the bark off near the 
roots of a silver maple in late Winter that is 



Based on Nature's Laws. 51 

standing near a pond or stream of water, 
where it has had a chance to produce a per- 
fect growth. By girding the bark at that 
time of the year there is nothing to make a 
new bark form. The sap goes up the tree, 
through the outer layers of wood, and when it 
returns through the layers of bark, there is a 
disconnection at the girded place. The tree 
not being able to make a perfect growth, 
which it would have without the girdle, it 
commences to die, and in the process it de- 
velops in the leaf the mineral coloring that is 
contained in the life substance of the tree. 
Some trees showing scarlet and crimson 
leaves that are affected by the drouth, are in- 
juries that are less fatal and under favorable 
conditions it continues growth the following 
season, and wholly recovers, or may continue 
living in a weak condition for a few years 
before finally dying. 



52 The Science of Fruit Growing 

If tlie respiratory organs with which the 
bark is completely filled should cease their 
action from the effects of the first cold nights 
in the Fall and shut off the return of the sap 
to the roots, it would produce a similar effect 
to that produced if the tree was girdled at the 
roots. 

The apple colors very fast if left on the 
tree after a frost, which is a most drastic stop- 
ping of the formation of chlorophyll, without 
which the chemical coloring in the sap is more 
apparent. Trees that ripen their fruit in 
Summer develop its coloring on the fruit as it 
reaches its ripening stage, in most cases of 
which it is a deteriorating condition. Much 
depends on the construction of the individual 
nature of each variety and the favorable or 
unfavorable condition under which it exists. 
Trees and plants whose foliage throughout 



Based on Nature's Laws. 53 

their growing season are other than green, are 
so by primary construction and not so con- 
structed by the process of growth. The most 
brilliant coloring in the leaf and fruit is pro- 
duced from the tree or plant that has the 
highest state of matured vitality in it at the 
time the ripening process is commencing, and 
the more rapid will be the change of coloring. 
A bearing apple tree living under conditions 
of slow growth, develops the coloring of its 
fruit much better than a tree that is making 
a more rapid growth, as it is near the ripen- 
ing stage most all the time. As an illustra- 
tion of a checked or stunted condition of 
growth produced, we will grow a tree by 
grafting a Baldwin scion on a Northern Spy 
tree that has been set in the orchard long 
enough to develop its bearing nature. The 
Baldwin variety, under the influence of heat, 
light and moisture, starts its growth in the 



54 The Science of Fruit Growing 

Spring about ten days earlier than the Nortli- 
ern Spy, but is not able to do much growing 
until the Spy is growing enough to feed it. 
In the meantime the Baldwin has been exist- 
ing on its stored vitality, the same as a limb 
cut from a tree with the same results. When 
the fruit on that kind of a Baldwin tree is 
about the size of marbles, it is red and in the 
most cases continues so to be until Fall, and 
not being sufficiently fed are undersize to 
what we get by growing the tree on other va- 
rieties that start their growth at the same 
time. 

We often see fruits that are checked from 
climatic causes, when in their earlier growing 
season, show high coloring from that time till 
harvested. Once the component parts of veg- 
etable life are chemically separated, they re- 
main so unless by nature it is reinvigorated 
with chlorophyll. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 55 

When the leaf stops making chlorophyll, 
or if the growing fruit is not able to get per 
feet chlorophyll, deterioration commences and 
the chemicals in the sap show their coloring, 
which is usually yellow. When the fruit in 
that ripening stage is receiving direct or re- 
flected rays of the sun, it shows red. The late 
June drop of the red varieties of apples or a 
partly grown apple that is killed by a worm 
feeding on its vital parts, turns red in the 
process of dying. It is of a dingy color, it 
not having reached a degree of maturity to 
form perfect chemicals for the bright red 
coloring. 

Nature seems to have a gauge by which it 
determines the amount of fruit to set from 
the multitude of blossoms. It seems to be 
based on the degree of development of each 
miniature part, judging from the kernels of 



56 The Science of Fruit Growing 

corn set from the abundance of silk represent- 
ing the cob or ear. The kernels on the ear 
with a few exceptions are without a vacancy 
from the stock end of the cob as far on it as 
they are produced. Many other grains show 
a similarity of setting. 

The blossoming feature of everything 
seems to be well organized. It takes well- 
matured and real life substance to hold and 
grow the fruit after it is formed. 

The amount of pink coloring in the petals 
of fruit blossoms, especially the apple, and 
the length of time it holds it before turning 
white, represents the degree of matured vital- 
ity in the tree. Without the pink coloring in 
the petals the ability of the tree to hold and 
grow its fruit till picking time is uncertain. 
It is an indication of an undeveloped condi- 
tion in the tree or its vitality has been greatly 
reduced by the elements of the weather. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 57 

The trees in setting their frnit are for the 
production of seed and are often too nnmerous 
to produce the size of pulp that is desired by 
the consumer. The fruit apparently is set too 
thick to produce the large specimens desired. 
They should be thinned, in order to give more 
nourishment to those that are left for devel- 
opment. In thinning the fruit it is best to use 
shears that are made for the purpose, as in 
removing a fruit when young by hand, it 
often loosens the one adjoining it with bad re- 
sults. The thinning should be done as early 
in the season as it becomes apparent that it 
should be done, as by so doing it will conserve 
the life substance of the tree to grow what is 
left. It requires all of a hundred times the 
mineral substance to grow the seed, core, pit 
and stem of fruit, that it does to produce the 
pulp, the development and perfection of 
which is the grower's desired product. 



58 The Science of Fruit Growing 

When a fruit-bearing tree suffers from a 
Summer drouth, it is caused by the roots not 
furnishing the necessary moisture and food. 
It lives on its vitality, and often is reduced 
till it is not able to complete the growth of its 
fruit as shown by the weak cells near the blow 
end. It is not likely to produce fruit the fol- 
lowing season, though it may blossom pro- 
fusely. 

Ripening is a condition formed by the 
stopping of the making of chlorophyll in part 
or whole and is controlled by the climatic 
conditions. For example, a red-nosed, white 
or yellow corn will not develop coloring on 
the kernels if the making of chlorophyll is 
suddenly stopped by an electric storm, or 
frost before it reaches a sufficient develop- 
ment, so that the chemicals forming the sap 
can separate enough to show their colors. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 59 

Other examples are numerous. When in that 
state they can only be prevented from decay 
ing by evaporating the moisture from them. 
They being an incomplete organism, are un- 
healthy for food. If eaten, it has to be elim- 
inated from the system as poison, if not by 
the organs intended for that work, then by an 
exodus through the skin, as exemplified by 
pimples, boils, carbuncles, etc., instead of be- 
ing an assistance for maintenance. They are 
on the same order for assimilation as tainted 
meat, spoiled eggs and partly decayed vege- 
tables, or those whose development was pre- 
maturely stopped through blight. 

To produce a perfect fruit, vegetable or 
grain, there should be all the requisite ele- 
ments in the soil in a soluble state to make 
a perfect growth. The plant should not be 
obliged or necessitated to make lime take the 



60 The Science of Fruit Growing 

place of potash or other essential ingredients, 
as it oftentimes is. 

It is almost impossible to keep the leaves 
clear of miniature lice and fungii when grown 
on imperfect food. Phloxoria, a most dreaded 
parasitic disease of the grape leaf of long 
standing in France, was eliminated by apply- 
ing a liberal amount of potash to the soil. 
There are other improper ingredients in 
growth, that if known and corrected would 
save much spraying and produce a better arti- 
cle of food. 

Barring the bad effects of an injurious 
climatic condition, fruit-bearing trees ought 
to bear a fair size crop of perfect fruit every 
year if the tree is given proper care and nour- 
ishment and the fruit thinned sufficiently to 
enable the tree to develop the fruit without 
its exhaustion below a normal growing condi- 



Based on Nature's Laws. 61 

tion. This can be done without the use of 
fungii sprays or poison except in a few cases, 
and those only till we can learn how to com- 
bat them with nature ^s agencies and put them 
in operation. 

Many fruit trees would be more profitable 
if they were grafted to other varieties which 
can be done any time in the Spring after the 
heavy freezing weather has passed, till the 
leaves are half grown in size. The best time 
to do it is just before the buds start on the 
tree, as it would soon be ready to furnish sap 
for its growth. About one-half of the large 
limbs should be grafted each year, leaving 
one year between the grafting. This will 
leave enough leaves to make the necessary 
amount of chlorophyll to keep the tree in a 
normal condition of growth. After the second 
grafting has made one year's growth all 



62 The Science of Fruit Growing 

the remaining ungrafted limbs can be re- 
moved. The scions should be cut from bear- 
ing trees in the Fall after the leaves on them 
have fallen and before there is hard freezing 
weather. The scions should be put in a sepa- 
rate tight box, packed in hay, straw, waste or 
sawdust, and put in a cool place where they 
will not freeze, till used. The middle third 
of the scion is the best to use. There is so 
much sap passing over the first third of the 
scion from the tree end, the buds do not fully 
develop; if used they are so slow in starting 
to grow that they do not prove satisfactory. 
The last third of the scion in the most of va- 
rieties are not fully matured and are more 
likely to dry up when grafted before they can 
receive nourishment from the tree. The stub 
should be grafted as soon as the limb is cut 
off, the end of the limb and the crack on the 
sides of the limb that was made by the split- 



Based on Nature's Laws. 63 

ting of the limb, in order to insert the scion, 
should be covered with wax and at least four 
inches below where you can see the crack, as 
the bark often dries and shows the crack ex- 
tended below what is apparent. The waxing 
should be done to keep the air out. A little 
wax put on the end of the scion will keep it 
from drying. The scion should be cut wedge 
shape for at least one inch, with two buds on 
it. When set firmly in the crack made by 
splitting the end of the limb, the inner part of 
the bark of both the scion and limb should 
come together, to make sure the scion can be 
set a little crossing the two inner barks. The 
grafting should be done in a mild day, so the 
wax will work freely. Use no grease but tal- 
low to put on your hands, to keep the wax 
from sticking to them, and not any more 
grease than is necessary, as it requires but 
little to kill a scion. To prevent the wind 



64 The Science of Fruit Growing 

from breaking out the scion where it grows 
too fast the first Summer, it can be kept 
cut back to twelve to eighteen inches in 
length. The wax is made by boiling for 
five minutes after it is melted over a slow 
fire in a kettle that holds at least five 
times the amount of the following ingredients. 
Four pounds of rosin, two pounds of beeswax 
and one-half pint of boiled linseed oil. 
Stir it well and see it does not boil 
over; if inclined to, remove it from the fire 
for a minute or two, and then replace. When 
done pour it in a tub containing fifty times 
the amount of water to cool it, and then pull 
it as you would in making candy, for five min- 
utes, and leave it in chunks the size of a ball. 
When wanted to use put it in warm water till 
it is soft. 

The quince is one of the most profitable 
fruits grown and is one of the most neglected. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 65 

It being a bush, its roots live near the surface 
of the ground. Its nature requires a very 
even degree of moisture throughout the grow- 
ing season. It cannot stand excessive wet or 
dry conditions as well as fruit trees. If the 
quince bush fails to receive the necessary 
amount of moisture for the growing and ma- 
turing of its fruit at the last of the fruit-grow- 
ing season, the fruit cells will break down, 
which makes a fine place for fungi to grow. 
In some cases the condition is so bad that the 
fruit is worthless. Light showers or dews 
prepare the skin over the broken cells of fruit 
to receive the fungii more readily. The crack- 
ing open of fruit is the result of a rapid 
growth following a stunted condition. The 
orchard should be cultivated often and shal- 
low, and not allow weeds or a cover crop to 
take the moisture at the critical time of its 
development. These are some of the condi- 



66 The Science of Fruit Growing 

tions when it is advisable to sow salt or cover 
the ground with a thick covering of hay, 
straw or any coarse mulching, to keep the air 
and sun from evaporating the moisture. The 
bush should be grown as a bush, and not with 
any length of body. It needs a little thinning 
out from the inside, otherwise it will adjust 
itself to conditions. It does best on rich soil. 
The bush does not have visible fruit buds, but 
grows one-half inch or more in the Spring be- 
fore it blossoms. It depends on the amount of 
the matured vitality in the limb to set and 
hold its fruit. Like peaches and some other 
trees, it is often infected with borers, a little 
grub that lives on the inside of the tree. They 
are hatched from an Qgg that is laid in the 
bark near the ground by a fly that is easily 
caught by toads. The grubs are best dug out 
of the tree by using a quarter inch gauge 
chisel, starting at the hole leading to the grub 



Based on Nature's Laws. 67 

that is apparent from the fine borings, and 
chisel out the bark by following the burrows 
left by the grub till it is found. Nature will 
soon heal the chiseled opening. 

The fruit of the strawberry consists of a 
little pulp, a thin skin well filled with a highly 
flavored juice or water. When the plant fails 
to furnish the fruit with the necessary mois- 
ture for its development, the skin stops filling, 
leaving the berry of small size. A good way 
to aid the plant to get the necessary moisture 
is to plant the rows at least five feet apart and 
cultivate the ground as often as it is neces- 
sary to keep the land moist or mulch with 
litter and irrigate. The plant is a free feeder 
and does its best growing, in a comparatively 
few days, in the early part of the growing 
season. 

The pulp of fruit consists of a combination 



68 The Science of Fruit Growing 

of organisms that require a sufficient amount 
of fresh air to aid it in the completion of its 
cycle of life from the time it is picked till it 
reaches a decayed state, at which time it does 
not furnish nourishment to the animal sys- 
tem. 

If fruit is picked when the temperature is 
above the normal and put in a close package 
in that condition, and stored in a close, un- 
ventilated room for any length of time, the 
cells of the fruit will commence to collapse, 
and will soon show it, in some varieties, in the 
form that is called scald, on the outside while 
it is ripening the fruit through its whole. 

If fruit must be packed when it is hot, it 
should be put where the heat will be taken 
out as soon as possible, and kept with as little 
fluctuation of temperature as possible. A 
stream of water flowing through the room 



Based on Nature's Laws. 69 

where the fruit is kept adds materially to its 
keeping quality, as shown in its firmness and 
flavor. 

When the fruit is taken from the cold 
storage, its temperature should be raised 
gradually, to the height in which it is ex- 
pected to be kept until used. Fruit that is 
frozen should be treated in the same way, to 
prevent it from showing its disastrous effect 
immediately. The warm, moist atmosphere 
of Spring has an ideal process of extracting 
frost from everything with as little loss of 
life as possible. 

Trees, especially peach trees, should not 
be excessively cut back for the purpose of 
forcing a growth of a large sized fruit. It 
does not give a tree a chance to fully develop 
all its constructive parts. Under that condi- 
tion it more readily succumbs to extreme 



70 The Science of Fruit Growing 

climatic conditions and dies at an early age, 
and is more likely to be infected with insects 
and diseases. 

The leaves, which constitute the manu- 
facturing power of life, should be increased in 
numbers instead of decreased on every bear- 
ing tree and plant, that their combined work 
can produce more matured vitality in the 
short season of growth. 

A little study on these lines will lead one 
to see where more leaves can be grown on a 
tree, and at the same time not interfere with 
the light and air striking the leaves located 
near where the fruit is growing. 

Nature has provided for leaves to die 
when they get too thick, and shaded too much 
to be useful for growth. In this let nature 
have its way, at least on the leaves growing 
on the limbs and body near the ground. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 71 

A well enriched clay loam of good depth, 
underlaid with porous red clay with some lit- 
tle gravel stones mixed in it, seems to be the 
strongest and best soil for the growth of all 
kinds of trees and plants; especially in flow- 
ers where bright colors are desired, the potash 
and iron that is more plentiful in such soil, 
form the basis of the colors in flowers and 
fruits. It is easier to keep the trees and 
plants in a continuous growth than in other 
soils. It is very clearly demonstrated in the 
blossoming of Hybrid Perpetual Roses, which 
require a strong continuous growth for a con- 
tinuous blossom of large bright colored roses. 
Fruits and flowers grown on such soil have a 
solidity that adds materially to their keeping 
quality. 

Home decoration and landscape attraction 
is becoming more appreciated than in former 
years, as there are many more who can have 



72 The Science of Fruit Growing 

what was formerly reserved for the rich. Iq 
cultivating a taste for the best effect every- 
thing should be arranged so it will appear, on 
sight, to be just as it should be by nature. The 
house, located with reference to the road and 
other permanent improvements. The walks, 
leading from the house to the road or drive, 
where they would be most accessable for the 
greatest number likely to use them. 

In locating the large growing trees which 
are likely to be the longest standing, make 
full allowance for the space they will occupy 
when full grown, whether they are set for 
beauty or shade, or their combination. Other 
space that would seem to be more attractive 
or restful to the eye, can be planted to smaller 
growing trees or shrubbery. 

The selfish feature has so disappeared that 
the planting of hedges to keep the home 



Based on Nature's Laws. y^ 



isolated, or protected from mischievous peo- 
ple, has been largely done away with. 

The lawns extended to the edge of the 
path, with beds containing attractive flowers 
a little way inside of the border, is too often 
to be admired, without little urchins playing 
on the lawn, that give the home its best effect. 

The back yard, depending on its size, 
should be planted to vegetables and summer 
ripening fruits as they, by all means, want to 
be used when freshly picked. The largest 
trees should be located first, where, when 
grown, the limbs or shade of them will not 
extend over the line of the lot, other trees of 
smaller growing size should be located next, 
and then the berries and other small fruits. 
If the space is limited, grape vines can be 
used for covering screens and allowed to grow 
as high as is consistent with looks. 



74 The Science of Fruit Growing 

The walks should extend around the gar- 
den and within a short distance of the fence 
or outside. The walk should be at least five 
feet wide, so that two persons can walk 
abreast and not be disturbed by the vege- 
tables or berries growing near it. A liberal 
supply of flowering plants that are suitable 
for bouquets, will contribute oftentimes, to 
pleasant thoughts and admiration. 

The liberal planting of Perennials make 
the garden look homelike and substantial. 

Also the planting of crocuses, tulips and 
hyacinths, intermingled with the lily of the 
valley, planted near the walk, most fre- 
quented in early spring, will represent a feel- 
ing of good cheer with the advent of Spring 
in strong contrast of Winter. The sweet Eng- 
lish violets having been previously admired 
as the promise of their coming. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 75 

In laying out a public park, the first 
thought should be to have all of its entrances 
extending an invitation for everyone to enter, 
and enjoy its pleasant features. 

If the park is large, its drives should be 
laid out, first in conformity with whatever 
the permanent interesting features there may 
be, and what is contemplated to be con- 
structed. The entertaining features should 
be divided into two or more places. Those 
intended for children should be located where 
it is the easiest reached, that they may visit 
them often. Those intended more for grown 
people can be located further away, and in 
such places as will make the whole park inter- 
esting. The drives and paths should be wide, 
and graded to conform with the surround- 
ings. They should be constructed with a tile 
drain in their center, laid at a depth of four 
or five feet, with frequent side outlets to let 



76 The Science of Fruit Growing 

the water off. The ditch should be filled with 
one foot of coarse gravel, and above that with 
small size stones to the top, making a well 
drained bed to build the road on, whether of 
dirt, concrete or asphalt. The making of a 
dry road bed is the primary feature of mak- 
ing a road for durability, and will be used 
more extensively when people have learned 
its value. In putting the drain under the 
center of the road, it is not as likely to freeze 
as when put on either side, and is always 
ready to care for any water that comes to it. 
The deeper it is made and the longer it stands, 
the wider space and better it will drain. 

In planting the larger growing trees, care 
should be taken to place them where they will 
not have to be removed. Never nearer than 
twelve feet of a drive, or six feet from a 
walk, if space will permit. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 77 

There should be sun drives and walks, and 
shade drives and walks. In laying out the 
drives and walks, allowance should be made 
for their being made wider, when the use of 
the park is more fully developed. Trees 
planted in groups, forming little groves, are 
very desirable. Bright color flowering or 
foliage shrubs planted in masses are more at 
tracting than mixed varieties. 

Unpleasant surroundings are better 
screened with mixed trees and shrubbery, 
than by hedges. Hedges, like fences, represent 
a restricted area which should not exist in 
an Americanized park. 

The gymnasium feature of the park 
should be located on high and dry ground, 
and where the purest and best air can be had, 
as when growing children are exercising, 
they inhale more air, and it should be of the 



78 The Science of Fruit Growing 

best. The trapeze, swings and other features 
should be sufficiently varied to use every 
muscle in the using of them and to fit the taste 
and enjoyment of as many as practical. 

The birds and animals on exhibition 
should be of an elevating nature instead of 
demoralizing, as they oftentimes are. 

There should be plenty of drinking places 
with the best of water, and places of neces- 
sity, not only sanitary, but respectfully kepr.. 

To have a cultivated plot where each in- 
dividual class or school can have a vegetable 
and flower garden, is good to teach and en- 
courage the human mind to have an interest 
in the earth's surface, and what and how 
things grow on it. Later it will inspire the 
desire to have a home of their own, the pos- 
session of which is a strong feature in nature, 
to become reliable, satisfied and interested in 



Based on Nature's Laws. 79 

their good and the good of all others, which is 
well named Americanism. 

Smaller parks can be laid out on these 
lines so contracted as to fit the size of the 
plot. 

The fuel problem can, and will be solved, 
by the planting and growing of trees to be 
used for heating and other purposes. The 
Norway maple for the Northern states, and 
the Sycamore for the Southern states, have 
the lead over other varieties in hardiness, 
rapidity of growth, with comparative value 
for fuel and lumber purposes. Others are 
close seconds with specific values, such as 
catalpa and locus for posts and railroad 
ties, lindens, walnuts, ashes and pines for 
lumber. All of which can be grown in con- 
nection with other crops with great profit. By 
sowing their seed on a well prepared ground, 



80 The Science of Fruit Growing 

the same as is used for wheat in the Fall, as 
soon as they can be secured after they are 
ripe, in rows four feet apart, with plenty of 
room at the ends for a horse and cultivator to 
turn on. The furrows for the seed to be sown 
in should be one-half inch deep, and four 
inches wide. Scatter the seed in it at the rate 
of about twenty-five seed to the lineal foot, 
and cover evenly with one-half inch of dirt. 
Care should be taken to see that the land does 
not crust in the spring, as such seed have but 
little lifting power when starting to grow in 
the Spring. In their wild state they are most 
always found starting under a light mould or 
leaves. The crust, if starting to form, can be 
broken by raking lightly as often as it starts, 
or covered with one-half inch of fine sand, 
and watered freely. The soil should be culti- 
vated, hoed, and freed of weeds, the same as 
corn is cared for. When the seedlings have 



Based on Nature's Laws. 81 

matured their growth, they should be dug in 
the Fall or the following Spring, and the cen- 
ter root cut off, leaving the root from eight to 
ten inches long, and all the side roots should 
be cut off to within one-eighth of an inch of 
the main root; this is for the purpose of pre- 
venting any roots being bent when set, as they 
often prove to be injurious in later years. 

In planting them for the forest, first plow 
and fit the land the same as for corn, mark it 
out both ways, ten feet apart. Plant the trees 
with a dibble, be sure that you fasten the bot- 
tom of the root tight, and fill up the holes 
made by the dibble so the ground will not dry 
to injure the root. Put no manure or water 
near the plant when setting. Plant the field 
with hoed crops, and treat the trees the same 
as the crops till the trees get large enough to 
render the cropping unprofitable. The only 



82 The Science of Fruit Growing 

trimming needed or allowable on the trees is 
to see that there is only one limb a grow- 
ing in the center. When the lower limbs com- 
mence to die from the effects of their shade, 
cut out every other row diagonally, or as fast 
as it seems best for the good of the remaining 
trees. In planting do not mix nut bearing 
trees with seed bearing trees, as they are pois- 
onous to them. 

The most of forest trees and especially the 
black walnut, butternut and hickory are pois- 
oning to fruit-bearing trees, and when stand- 
ing too near them will kill them in time. The 
fruit-bearing trees show their effects by grow- 
ing leaning away from them and the leaves 
show a weakness, indicating that the poison 
comes from the leaves as well as their roots. 
All leaves have a nature to repel each other. 
The stronger leaves absorb the vitality and 
take the place of the weaker ones. 



Based on Nature's Laws. 83 

In heating your house with a furnace do not 
depend on it to force the hot air into the room 
that is already filled with air to heat it. Let 
the cold air, which is the heaviest, have a 
chance to pass out through a register located 
in or near the floor, and connected with a pipe 
leading to the bottom of the furnace, forming 
a vacuum in the room to be readily replaced 
with hot air from the furnace forming a circu- 
lation. The cold air from the room becomes 
lighter as it is warmed by the furnace. It is 
much less work to ventilate the house by 
opening the doors or windows, than it is to 
produce twice the necessary fuel needed to 
heat by induction, than it requires to heat by 
the circulation of air. Air, like water, when 
kept in motion, is much purer than when at 
rest or nearly so. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




DDOmiTDflSb 



